Melting the Ice
by Raven55
Summary: A little accident in potions and now he's stuck to her like glue. And if you already can't get along normally, this much invading of personal space never does anyone good. Or does it? A sweet LilyJames fluff.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the little plot in my head. 

**AN:** I wrote this especially for my boyfriend. Today is our one year aniversary (such a heavy word) and I wanted to give him something special. He read it before I posted it, of course ;) Well, everyone enjoy!

**- Melting the Ice -**

"_Will you please be careful!"_

"_Potter, I'm warning you..."_

"_Mr Potter, please don't- Look out!"_

"_Get _off_ me!"_

"_I'm trying to, Evans. Stop kicking me!"_

_Professor Slughorn looked at the sight in front of him. Rarely had his classes been this action-packed, even if he did have to put up weekly with the never ending conflict between four certain Gryffindors and one of his more favoured, though somewhat less popular, students._

_But this was probably the worst fight of them yet. Before him lay the wreckage of an exploded cauldron and a pile of students._

"_For the last time, get off me!"_

"_I _would_, but Snivellus is in the way. Get that greasy hair out of my face, will you."_

"_Now now, class." Slughorn tried soothingly. "No harm done, but I'll have to take some points for that extraordinary levitating spell of yours, mr Potter."_

_James grinned, recognising the hidden compliment within the reprimand. Slughorn waved his wand and the cauldron and the remnants of the failed potion vanished. _

_He held out a hand to help his pupils up, but Snape ignored it and scrambled up to his feet himself, scurring to hide in one of the more dark corners of the dungeon so he could wipe an abnormally large sweatdrop from his nose without anyone seeing._

_Lily accepted Slughorn's hand gratefully but found that something heavy was clinging to her arm, holding her down to the ground no matter how hard she tried to get to her feet. She glared down at James and opened her mouth, ready to accuse him of hexing her, when she saw he was looking at her arm speechlessly._

_Behind her, Slughorn let out a surprised 'oho!'_

_Disgusted, she realised that what had been holding her down was actually James' entire body weight. They had been welded together at the wrist, being held together by some sort of blueish see-through layer that had enveloped their wrists and hands and they were unable to break it._

_James touched it with a finger of his free hand._

"_It's freezing cold!" he said surprised._

_Slughorn coughed._

"_Well..." he said with amusement and a glint of something Lily couldn't recognise in his eyes. "I suppose it's the Headmaster's office for you two youngsters, then..."_

- - -

"Is that so?" Dumbledore said, looking at James over the rim of his half-moon spectacles.

"No!" Lily interupted furiously. "Professor Slughorn did _not_ praise your spellwork! And Severus Snape didn't have a huge sweatdrop on his nose! You're making it up as you go along!"

"Alright." he admitted. "So I made up those two things, it doesn't really matter. The rest of it was true, anyway."

Lily huffed and wanted to cross her arms in front of her chest, but realised just in time that doing so would also mean bringing James' hand close to her chest and that was the last thing she wanted. Feeling hugely deprived of a way to express herself, she had to make due with shooting James a look of daggers.

She blushed immediately when she realised she was still in the company of Dumbledore. But their Headmaster just smiled at them serenely and seemed to be staring at the contraption around their wrists.

She shuffled her feet uncomfortably and couldn't help noticing James was unusually quiet as well. Suddenly Dumbledore seemed to snap out of his concentration and sat up straight.

"Well!" he said brightly. "Seems to me like there's only one thing to do."

--- --- ---

Lily stomped her feet down on the marble steps as they walked down.

"Was that it? Isn't there anything else?"

James didn't seem quite as upset as Lily was and he didn't bother to hide his smile, something which infuriated Lily all the more. She stared at him angrily.

"Potter! Don't tell me you're enjoying this! You're actually thinking this is funny, aren't you!"

She was simply horror-struck.

He shrugged. "Well, you heard what he said. All we can do is wait for it to melt, and it doesn't melt until we start getting along. And, sadly, we both know that that won't happen until the day Hell freezes over, so I decided I might as well make the most of it."

Her eyes opened wide with livid anger.

"Make the most- Honestly, I- I hate you, Potter. With every fiber in my being."

He stuck out his tongue at her. "Well, your fibers had better get used to having me around then, because it seems to me like I'm not going anywhere. Must thank old Sluggy, though. Never thought I'd see the day you and me would end up holding hands."

"We're _not_ holding hands!" Lily screeched.

She started to shake and pull and scratch at the frozen handcuff, trying to get the Magic Ice, the potion which Slughorn had set them in class that day, to break. After a few very exhausting minutes of displaying a very elaborate and colourful part of her vocabulary, Lily could only give in.

The only thing that stopped her from sinking to her knees was James, whether he wanted to or not. He rolled his eyes and tried to drag her on a few more steps.

"Oh, come on Evans. I'm not the incarnation of pure evil. It won't kill you to hang around me for a while."

Again she shot him a look of daggers and this time she started breathing through her nose heavily. "If you think I'm going to hang around you and the rest of the Morons, or whatever the four of you fancy calling yourselves, you've got another thing coming."

"Well I'm not going to spend the rest of my life listening to you and Alice comparing boys and nailpolish!"

She narrowed her eyes and tried to think of an insult she could throw at him, but decided that a good kick in the shins would do the trick just as well.

She delighted in hearing James moan in pain every step of the way down to the Great Hall for lunch. She dragged him up to her friends and tried to ignore some of the other Gryffindors who were wolf-whistling at the sight of the two of them together; To careless onlookers it seemed like they were holding hands.

With a face as red as her hair she sat down quickly, causing James to stumble and hit his leg against the bench.

"Sheesh Evans! Wasn't that kick enough? Are you going to torture me the entire time?"

She ignored him furiously. Her friends gave her an enquiring look and couldn't help glancing over at James just once. Lily slammed her and James' frozen hands on the table.

"It won't melt." They said, answering the question none of the girls dared to ask.

"...Have you tried magic?" one of them said.

Lily shook her head with malice. "No. I can't use my wandhand and James it quite happy to stay this way for now."

James nodded with a content grin and started whistling a vague tune. The girl tapped her wand and tried to make a small fire, but all it did was leave scorchmarks on the oak table. Disappointed she pocketed her wand and continued eating.

"Right." Lily said suddenly. "I've had it. What did Dumbledore say again? We needed to agree, right?"

James said nothing.

"So, we've got to find something you and me agree about." She continued. "Think. For heaven's sake, think Potter! If you don't then, I swear, I'll lose it! Now help me think of something we agree on."

--- --- ---

"So nothing worked." Sirius said dryly.

Lily shook her head grumpily and stared into the fire. "It's all his fault. He's not even trying!"

"Have you tried a lie?" Peter asked suddenly. "Why not lie! Say you agree on something out loud. Perhaps that's all there is to it."

"Seriously, Wormtail. This isn't some silly kid spell. It's a Sluggy potion." James said. "And anyway, if that was the trick, I'd be flying on my broom right now."

He looked at the sky longingly as dusk was starting to settle in around the castle.

"Well, if _that_ had worked, _I_ would finally be able to take my shower." She said viciously.

James smirked instantly. "Aw Evans, you don't have to mind me. I'd glady take a shower with you."

Immediately she blushed a deep shade of crimson and smacked him on the back of his head forcefully. James grinned, but suddenly noticed there was a tear hanging onto one of her eyelashes.

"...You really hate me, don't you." she sniffed.

Sirius and Peter bit their lip and took the hint. They vanished into one of the other corners of the common room quietly and kept an eye on them, just in case.

"You must hate me so much."

James looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Don't try to be funy. You make my life hell every single day and you love it. You never leave me alone, you never get off my back! And now this!"

She was crying loudly now.

"You're not even trying to help because you get a kick out of bullying me, don't you. I honestly try to be nice to you, I never did anything wrong, but all you do is pick on me! Did you even think about tonight? About how to get dressed? About how to go to the loo or how to take a shower? We can't do any of that, James! All I can think of is the horror of what happens when I _do_ have to go to the bathroom, or you...and it scares me, alright? But all you do is prolong it as best you can."

James' smile disappeared. "Evans, I'm sorry. I didn't think-"

"That's your problem! You never think! The world is one big jokeshop to you and all you care about is having fun at the expense of someone else."

"That's not true!" he said harshly. "I do care about other people. I care about you."

She snorted.

"Really, I do! But you never give me a chance, do you! Do you honestly think that I see the world as a playground? That I have no problems at all, simply because I'm the one who causes them for others? Then you must be dumber than I thought."

She stopped her sobs and looked up.

"There you go again." she said accusingly. "Calling me names..."

"I never intended to make you feel bad, Lily. But all you do is hear me speak, you never really listen. If you had listened," he said, ignoring her opened mouth, ready to object, "if you had listened you would have figured out long ago why I pick on you, as you like to call it. For Merlin's sake, you've got a brain, girl. Use it just this once."

He wanted nothing more right now than to get up and walk away, but seeing as how their hands were still in the same state as a popsickle he had to make due with averting his face.

She wiped her cheek dry quickly.

"...You...called me Lily." she said.

"That's your name, isn't it." he said with a sigh.

"...Yes...But...you never call me Lily."

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before turning his face back to her.

"...Then how about I start calling you Lily, from now on. Instead of just Evans. Is that a start?"

She nodded quietly. "...Alright."

"Then will you call me James instead of Potter?"

"...Alright."

"And...can we be friends from now on?" he tried, moving just a bit closer.

"...Alright..."

"And...what if I asked you...to be more than just friends? Would you..."

Surely she had gotten the hint by now, he thought wildly. She couldn't actually be this dumb and not know what he was getting at.

"I-" she said.

"Would you let me hold your hand?" he asked, hoping that she wouldn't lose her temper the way she had done earlier, and praying that he could find some sort of recognition and aproval in her eyes.

He shifted his weight onto their frozen hands so he could lift the other one to her face.

"Would you let me..."

"I-"

"Would you let me kiss you?" he blurted out suddenly.

Immediately he shut his eyes and dropped his head. Subtlety had never been his strong point. And this had probably-

"Alright..."

"W-what?" he said confused.

"I said...alright."

He couldn't help grinning and brought his face closer to hers. "You sure?"

She nodded.

"Then...I think we finally found something we agree on."

Before she could smack his head or get her mind back on track, he placed a light peck on her lips. He felt his newly freed hand seek imprisonment again as it entangled with hers between them.

She smiled uncomfortably.

"So...You'll let me hold your hand now?"

She nodded her head slowly.

"Wow..." James said. "...It's funny, really...What took me six years to get started, Sluggy finished within a day."

"You should thank him, then."

"Oh...I think he already knows..."

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**the end  
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